Trolley system



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' y W. H. WALKER.

TROLLBY SYSTEM.

Patented Mar. 30, 1897.

( M 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. H. WALKER.

TROLLEY SYSTEM.

Patented Mar. 30, 1897.

ikz/e 727301 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM H. WALKER, OF FITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF TWO- THIRDSTO JAMES IWI. SCOTT, OF SAME PLACE, AND STEPHEN D. 'WIIITE,

OF HAYSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

TROLLEY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,728, dated March30, 1897.

Application filed June 26, 1896. Serial No. 597,062. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM H. WALKER, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTrolley Systems; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in trolleysystems, and relates particularly to an improved trolley an d the mannerof constructing the wire for the same to operate.

The invention has for its object to construct a trolley that when placedupon the wire will be held firmly in its position and prevented fromjumping the wire when the trolley is rounding a curve or the car isrunning at a high rate of speed, as is frequently the case with theordinary operation of the trolley.

The invention has for its further object to construct a trolley and wirewhereby the above results may be obtained and that will be ex tremelysimple in its construction, strong, durable, effectual in its operation,and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture; furthermore, a trolleythat will be absolutely safe at crossovers, as the same will beprevented from leaving the wire and strike either the crossline wire orthe guide-wire, as is now frev quently the case with the ordinaryconstruc- Fig. 2 is a similar view of the reverse side of same. Fig. 3is a side elevation of a modified form. Fig. 4 is a similar View of thereverse side of same. Fig. 5 is a view of the form shown in Fig. 4 inposition on the wire. Fig. 6 is a front view of the trolley on the wire,showing the manner in which the same passes over the hood. Fig. 7 is afront view of the hood. Fig. 8 is a view of a double hood as constructedfor crossovers.

In the drawings, a represents the trolleywheels, which are curved on theupper periphery, as in the ordinary construction, the lower of saidwheels being pivotally secured in the supporting-brace b,and the upperwheel being adapted to operate in the elongated slot 0, provided in theupper end of the brace b. To the aXle of the lower wheel a is secured anarm cl, to the upper end of which ispivotally attached a rod 6, which isinclined inwardly and attached to an axle of the upper wheel at, theseaxles being connected together by a coilspring f. The free end of therod (1 is adapted to receive a cord g, running to the platform of thecar, for operating the trolley and placing the same in position on thewire.

In the modified form of construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4 thesupporting-brace b is formed in a triangular shape, the two lower wheelsbeing pivotally secured in alinement with each other and the upper wheeljournaled in a slot 0 in the same manner as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, saidupper wheel being also-T similarly connected by coil-springs arrangedaround the pivotal pin and to t e pivotal pins of the lower wheels.Braces h are a ranged to each of the pivotal pins of these lower wheelsand connected together at the lower ends, said braces being adapted tobe secured to the trolley-pole proper. In this form of construction itwill of course require two of the arms d, which are each connected by anupwardly-inclined rod 6, connected to the To permit of the operation ofmy improved trolley, the wire for the same to operate upon willnecessarily be constructed as is shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8. In theseviews 70 indicates the curved wire; H, the guide-wires, one of saidguide-wires being formed at the currentwire with a hood 1' and securedto the opposite guide-wire, as is fully illustrated in Fig. 7 of thedrawings. To construct crossovers, these hoods will be formed in themanner fully illustrated in Fig. 8 of the drawings, the said wires beingadapted to be secured together by means of soldering or any othersuitable or convenient means.

The operation of my improved trolley system will be readily apparentfrom the views of the same which Ihave shown in the-drawings, but inorder to illustrate the same more clearly I will describe it as follows:

I will assume that the parts have been secured in their respectivepositions and it is desired to place the trolley on the wire. Theoperator grasps the rope or line 9, and bypulling downward on the sameraising the upper wheel a, causing the same to ride in the slot 0through the medium of the arms 01 and rod 6, when the trolley can bereadily placed over the wire, and when the pull on the line is releasedit will allow the upper wheel a to resume its normal position, as shownin Figs. 1 and 2, with the trolley-wire between the two slots. Theoperation for the modified form of construction will be the same as thatheretofore given for the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and afurther description is deemed unnecessary. The manner in which thetrolley passes the guide-wires will be readily apparent from thereference to Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings, and the manner of operatingat the crossover will also be readily observed from reference to Fig. 8.

By this construction of a trolley and trolley-wire the trolley will beretained in communication with the wire at all times until it is desiredto remove the same, which can be easily done by a pull on the line 9,thus raising the upper wheel 0., allowing the removal of the trolleyfrom the wire, in the ordinary construction, where there is nothing tohold the trolley in connection with the wires at all times and the sameis liable to jump at the crossover and strike the guide-wires, breakingthe same and causing the trolley-wire to fall and endanger the lives ofpersons on the street. By my improved construction such danger isentirely obviated and the trolley will always be held firmly in positionupon the wire at all curves in the road, no matter how sharp the curvesmay be, which result is very hard to obtain with the ordinaryconstruction of trolleys. It will be observed that various changes maybe made in the detailsof construction without departing from the generalspirit of 4 my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a trolley system, the combination of the trolley-head consistingof the bracket, wheels mounted therein and adapted to contact withopposite sides of an overhead c011- ductor, one of said wheels beingmounted on a fixed axle and another being mounted on an axle movable ina slot in said bracket, a lever connected with said fixed and movableWheel-axles and adapted to press the movably-mounted wheel away from theconductor, and means connecting the axles of the wheels for forcingthewheels in to contact with the conductor.

2. In a trolley system, the combination of the trolley-wheel pivotallysecured to the supporting-bracket, the lower wheels connected by meansof levers and rods to the upper wheel, said upper wheel being adapted tobe adjusted vertically in the slot in the bracket by means of saidlevers and rods, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a trolley system, the combination of the trolley-wheels pivotallysupported in the brace, the axle of the upper trolley-wheel operating inthe slot in said bracket, and an operating lever and rod whereby saidupper wheel is adjusted vertically in combination with the trolley-Wireprovided with hoods to permit the free travel of the trolley,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IVILLIAM I-I. WALKER.

Vitnesses:

PHILIP Hnnnnnren, WM. EVANS.

